We woke up, packed our bags and went to the beach for last time in Cartagena. After a feed in our usual restaurant, it was time to say goodbye to our favourite city, and set off on a three hour journey towards Santa Marta. On the way, we saw much more of the effects of the recent floods but much worse than what we had previously seen. Hundreds of homeless people lined the roads in front of their submerged villages begging passing motorists. The only place to live was on the road as it was 3 or so metres higher than the land. The road was also lined with scrawny, starving stock as there was no food because the grass was 2 metres below water. So horrible to see people so desperate.
We arrived in Santa Marta in the evening in search of an apartment and found a really nice one with an amazing beach-front view over the inlet. We settled in and went to explore the streets. After some dinner we went for a wonder along the beach. It was very different to what we expected. It was packed from the street to the sea with partying Colombians. We hung out at the beach and after a couple of brews we headed back to the apartment.
The following day we woke up early and went straight to the beach. There isn't much to say other than we spent the whole day relaxing in the 30+ degree sun, and cooling off with a beer or our favourite maracuya (passionfruit) smoothies. We ended our day by jumping on the banana boat (a long inflatable banana, towed behind a boat). As always, it results in the person behind you smashing into you every time you are thrown off by a sharp turn.
That evening we went back to the beach after some dinner but had an early night as we were getting up at 5 the following morning to go to Tyrona national reserve.
The next morning did not go to plan as a few mix ups lead to the bus leaving without us so we had to wait for a different bus several hours later. After an hour and a half on the bus we arrived to the park. Due to the recent weather, the dirt roads were no longer dirt and no longer sufficient for a bus. There were multiple times where the bus was on 45degree angles sideways and even more times it lost traction in the mud. The inedible soon came as we noticed mud flicking up on the bus apart from we weren't going anywhere. Next thing we knew the back wheels had dug a right big hole and we weren't going anywhere in a hurry. Of coarse the bus was taking up the whole road so the traffic began to build up behind us. The next thing some impatient driver decides he's going to take the outside, just off the road. And to no ones surprise he was in the same situation as us. We eventually got some traction, and slid sideways smacking into the impatient ute as we got out. Eventually it all worked out and we got to one of the very secluded beaches within the reserve before midday. We spent the first few hours relaxing on the beach before we hopped on a boat to a beautiful small beach to do some snorkelling. We explored the reef which contained a rich source of tropical fish and creatures before heading back to the beach for lunch. At about three the weather packed in so we headed back to Santa Marta. We spent the evening relaxing on the beach by our apartment enjoying one last amazing Caribbean sunset before taking everyone out for dinner to thank them for their wonderful hospitality. We then returned to the beach which was conveniently more busier and rowdy than the previous nights with louder music and much more dancing.
The following morning we got up at 5 to get on the road as we had a 16hour drive a head of us. On the way out of Santa Marta we saw much more of the flooding which was even worse than we had previously seen. There was so much water it looked like it was meant to be there until you got to a town and saw roofs sticking out.
With a bit of risky Colombian driving we made good time and got back to Medellin in 13hours. We were both gutted our trip to the Caribbean had come to an end but we had an amazing time and our exciting travels continue to the Amazon in one day.
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